Death
by embrace-your-inner-dork
Summary: A series of short vignettes, each one a Slytherin reflecting on the loss of one of their own. Post-DH
1. Chapter 1

Determined Denial: Millicent Bulstrode

Vince isn't dead.

No, really, he's not.

I mean, what do we have to go on? Draco? He was delirious. After all, he took Ron Weasley's word for it. This is _Weasley_ we're talking about here. Okay, so Ron Weasley, avowed hater of all things Slytherin, says Vince is dead... and _keeps flying?_ Who's to say he even _looked?_ He probably just wanted to get out. Odds are if Potter hadn't been playing saviour, Weasley would've left Draco and Greg to die just as quick without batting an eye.

Someone's word is no evidence.

Vince isn't dead.

I'll prove it.

--

Dumb: Gregory Goyle

Ya know, I'm not a thinker, but I got a theory.

Me an' Vince, we're like two sides of a coin (probably a knut, since we're not worth much). He's loud an' impulsive, an' I'm quiet an' submissive. He looks for "right" an' "purpose," an' I just know how to make people happy. But we're both dumb. But different kinds, even.

This year was the first time he was ever real good at stuff—big important dark stuff, even—so he took that as meanin' that somethin' was wrong before.

That somethin' was _everythin'_. And Draco _was_ everythin'.

So he turned.

I'm the dumb that doesn't know stuff. He's the worse dumb, the one that everythin' he knows is wrong.

An' he can't stand bein' wrong.

So I think he did himself in on purpose.

--

Disdain: Theodore Nott

Well, there goes what little reputation Slytherin House had left.

Now, I know I sound callous and unfeeling, with that being my opening statement, so to speak, on the death of a classmate. But, to be frank, it's entirely true, and I am merely the only one with enough gall to say it. Even his allies—Draco, Gregory, Millicent—know that what he did was selfish and moronic, and that he _himself_ was selfish and moronic, and that the incident has forever shredded our credibility, not only as Slytherins, but as decent human beings.

We should mourn ourselves, not him.

--

Don't You Dare: Pansy Parkinson

Crabbe, how _dare_ you go and die on us! Do you have _any_ idea what a mess you've left? Draco was in shock for the _longest_ time, Goyle doesn't know _what _to do without you, Millie's become a complete _nutter_—you are aware she was in _love_ with you, right? The toughest girl in school has been reduced to... to... I don't even _know!_ And it's _all your fault!_

But you know who's the worst mess?

_ME!_

Draco's gotten it in his head since you died that he needs to start his life over and drop everything! Everything means _me_, you idiot! He's _leaving_ me because of _you_, and _I can't handle that!_

Did you think of anyone _else_ when you set your _stupid_ fire to show off your _stupid_ magical prowess and capture _stupid_ Potter? Did you _think_ of what could happen? Of _course_ you didn't! Since when have you ever stopped to do such a thing as _think?_

And now _everyone's_ miserable because of _you!_

I hope _you're_ miserable too, Crabbe, you sick son of a Squib!

--

Devil's Advocate: Tracey Davis

If I may, I'd like to refute Theodore's stance. May I have the debate floor, please? Thank you.

I'll be the first to admit that I didn't know Vincent terribly well; he was a friend of a friend, I suppose. But I heard more than enough from friends to back me, which, biased as the source may be, is still something.

That said, I refuse to use evidence. I will strictly evaluate the incident in and of itself.

Now, he may not have been the most... tolerant of people. But in this, his last act, he espoused the great values of every House. He took the time to _learn_ how to cast Fiendfyre, and was fiercely _loyal_ to his cause; he had the _drive_ to go through with it, and the _courage_ to die for the sake of it.

For this, we should mourn his loss and celebrate our gain.

--

Dazzle: Blaise Zabini

That... was utterly _spectacular._ And, believe me, I'm familiar enough with spectacle to be qualified to say that. I mean, that boy never had class, wouldn't have known what it was if it bit him on the nose, but _that_ is a classy way to die.

Can you imagine it, though? Can you, really, see the big, bright, engulfing flames, sweeping in from every corner of the room, gaining on Potter and company? You _can't_ tell me that isn't impressive. In fact, it's nothing short of newsworthy. No, I take that back—it's _legendary._ This will go in all the history books from now on.

Nobody would have expected it; it's a ridiculously tough spell to begin with, and especially coming from... _him!_ It was just... beautiful. The boy knew how to get attention. Everyone's going to remember this, remember _him_ if only because of the incident. He went down in a blaze of glory, in all its meanings.

I never thought I'd be comparing myself to someone like him, but it was an absolutely _brilliant_ ploy. Nobody gave a knut about him in life, but in death he's left everyone awed and starstruck.

That's the way _I_ want to die.

--

Dolt in Distress: Daphne Greengrass

Boys are stupid.

He, of course, was stupid to begin with, but being a boy made it even worse.

It was absolutely obvious that he wasn't content with being Draco's right-hand goon anymore, and that he wanted out. He wanted to be himself, whatever that might have been, and nobody would let him.

But the idiot didn't cry for help. Why? Because he's a boy, and he's not allowed.

So the simple-minded people around him didn't see anything wrong, because he didn't say anything.

Yes, you idiots, the incident was clearly a suicide, and none of you saw it coming. It was a spectacular suicide, yes, and how brilliant to try and take Potter out in the process, but a suicide nonetheless.

All he needed was encouragement, something that would've told him that he was worth something and that he was capable of something. I haven't got something to help him _now,_ but I still think he deserves a few good words to lay him to rest.

So, dearest Vincent, I say to you: Absolutely _mah_vellous, dahling. What a way to take your final bow. _Brava, brava, bravissima..._

Oops, I almost said _encore._

_--_

Dead: Draco Malfoy

Hah. Crabbe's dead, you say? Too bad for him. But who's that? I don't know a Crabbe. It's just me and Goyle. Why would an illustrious Malfoy associate with a useless lump of flesh that would only go on to betray him?

In fact, the tragic Fiendfyre incident was done by someone else entirely. There's no Crabbe at all. And I wasn't in that anyway. Me and Goyle were far away from anything that might have happened in any Room of Requirement.

No, I even take that back. As far as I'm concerned, none of that ever happened. My pitiful excuse for a childhood didn't happen. My life starts now. I was just conjured into being at seventeen years old, with a clean slate. Vincent Crabbe never existed, and until now, neither has Draco Malfoy.

_...besides, even if he did survive, he'd be as good as dead anyway._


	2. Chapter 2

Done: Vincent Crabbe

I don't regret it.

I know, I'm stupid. Always have been. But now I'm stupid _and_ a nutter, 'cause I left people behind, and I ruined Hogwarts, and I'm stuck as a stupid ghost at the stupid school 'cause I'm too much of a nance to find out what happens to non-ghost dead people. But I don't regret it.

That spell was the one thing I ever did of my own will.

And I didn't mess it up.

So, um, I s'pose sorry, Draco, Greg, Mills, and whoever else cared.

But for that?

I don't regret it one damn bit.


End file.
